PAINTINGS and DRAWINGS

Colla is also a 'writer of signs'. A complementary activity that has often ended up coexisting with his music and his theoretical writings.

Parasaurolophus

 

Crayon drawing for the composition Concinnitherium 'il richiamo del grande sauro' for Bb clarinet and large symphony orchestra (2008) RICORDI.

Parasaurolophus had a peculiar look with a trombone-shaped crest on the back of its head. Thanks to the fossils, now we know that the crest was five and a half feet long and contained a labyrinth of air passages. 

Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science have collaborated to recreate this sound. The computer modelling suggests that the dinosaur emitted a low-frequency rumbling sound which could vary in pitch.

In Colla’s opinion, this animal horn’s sounds had to add up to the sounds emitted by his vocal apparatus: bichords, interferences, deep differentials and beats between the two series of harmonics. These powerful sounds were useful for long distance communications and courtship, but probably for 'noise impact' self-defence as well. The Parasaurolophus was an herbivorous dinosaur that was not particularly equipped with traditional means of defence such as teeth or claws. Its 'music' could have been a defence weapon, a further reason for its evolutionary success.

 

The Omen

 

Large acrylic painting completed and signed - after weeks of work - a few moments before the collapse of the steel infrastructures in the aftermath of the terrorist attack to the Twin Towers in New York.

This painting was published on the occasion of the Teatro alla Scala's performance of the lyric opera Il processo (2001) RICORDI.

 

In memoriam World Trade victims.

Homo abilis

 

Lapis drawing that exemplifies Colla's deep interest in paleontology and anthropology. This activity is focused in a series of studies concerning the evolution of music in nature and prehistoric peoples. His assumptions are, among others, presented in his Treatise on modern and contemporary Harmony, volume II (2015) Carisch.

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